Irvine Youth Water Polo Corporation
Public records show a registered, tax-exempt organization in good standing.
Points to look into
- It owes more than it owns.
These come from the organization's own tax return. There may be a good explanation; ask the charity.
What it says it does
The specific purpose of this corporation is for water polo instruction, practices, and tournament competition for youths between the ages of six and eighteen.
- Income
- $2.0 million
- Spending
- $2.0 million
- Spent on programs
- 100%
- Reserves
- -0.4 months of spending
- Largest source of income
- fees for its services, 100%
- Employees
- 0
- Volunteers
- 76
- Highest pay
- $87,336, president & ceo
Source: Form 990 for the year ending December 31, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Financial health
Weak: 42 out of 100. Higher than 10% of charities in its peer group (recreation and sports, $1m to $10m).
Reserves
0 of 35Spendable reserves are negative: it owes or has committed more than it holds.
Debt
0 of 20It owes 203% of what it owns.
Living within its means
12 of 15Income exceeded spending by 1% of income.
Income trend
15 of 15Income rose 6% on the year before.
Spending floor
15 of 15100% of spending went to programs.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending December 31, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Governance
Fair: 60 out of 100. Higher than 33% of charities in its peer group (recreation and sports, $1m to $10m).
Independent board
25 of 255 of 5 voting board members are independent.
Conflict of interest policy
15 of 15Has a written conflict of interest policy.
Whistleblower policy
0 of 8Reports no written whistleblower policy.
Record keeping policy
0 of 7Reports no written policy on keeping and destroying records.
Board minutes
0 of 5Reports that it does not keep minutes of board meetings.
Board sees the tax return
10 of 10Gave the board a copy of this return before filing it.
Pay set independently
0 of 5Reports no independent review process for its chief executive's pay.
Independent check of accounts
0 of 15Its accounts were not audited or reviewed by an independent accountant.
No reported misuse
10 of 10Reports no diversion of assets, excess benefits or loans to insiders.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending December 31, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Impact evidence
Describes programs. Its tax return describes what it does but we have found no measurable results in it.
Programs described in its return (3)
- $1.9 million spent. Water polo tournament competitions for youth ages 8 to 18. We organize, orchestrate, and operate the highest level of youth water polo competition events. These competitions provide a necessary experience over and above training and instruction, for our own members as well as other local, regional, and national youth athletes. We have consistently run these events year after year. In addition to our own long running legacy events, we also host major competitions for USA Water Polo, the national governing body for the sport, as well as offering event support to other groups to elevate the level of their events. Needless to say, the Covid pandemic has hit us hard, as one can see from the negative return for 2020, and if not for Federal and local grants, and Federal EIDL loan we would have needed to shut our doors. In 2021 we were able to begin hosting events in July in order to resume this aspect of our Mission and Program Service Accomplishments. In 2022 we were back to pre-Covid levels but with increased costs of operations forcing increased entry fees increasing our gross as well as expenses. In 2023 we continued to experience increasing costs for operation of events but without increasing entry fees. In 2024 it became necessary to increase entry fees to accommodate the increased facility and staffing costs. For 2025, USAWP has changed the proforma for NJO's, so we do not have a separate NJO income and expense section. All tournament involved aspects for this portion of our mission statement is included in this section. We have developed a new events system to handle any event, soup to nuts, with entries, scheduling, publishing of results in multiple formats, and the ability to handle more efficiently new Safe Sport protocols for these vents. (See Kahunaevents.com)
- $67,210 spent. Water Polo Instruction and Training. We offer monthly or quarterly options, and a 2-week trial for those new to the sport in order to teach skills and competition strategy at the introductory, beginner, intermediate and advanced levels. We strive with our youth athletes to instill sportsmanship and a positive teamwork ethic along with the importance of academics, which we hope they will carry with them throughout their lives. We also assist our members with matriculation into institutions of higher learning through education of the matriculation process, prowess within the sport, and emphasis on the importance of academic excellence. Revenue shown in this section is for training and competition fees in order to support coaching costs of training and competitions, and entry fees for events. The negative return in this section for 2020 is due to the Covid pandemic. In 2021 we were gradually allowed to reopen, however combined with another non-profit entity in order to survive. We did go to months of Virtual Training until we could gradually get back to in-water training, but in order to fully support this aspect of our Mission and Program Service Accomplishments we have combined training and competition efforts with another 501c3 entity, North Irvine Water Polo Club. In 2022 our merged training with North Irvine WPC continued. We continued combined training and competition with North Irvine in 2023. This combined training and competition continued throughout 2024. Our joint training with North Irvine continued through 2025, allowing us to focus on youth water polo competitions hosting our events and also assisting other groups with their events.
- National Junior Olympics. This exempt Program Service could be included in Water Polo Tournament Competitions, but due to its size, and not hosting this event annually, we show it separately. In years where we do host this event for USA Water Polo, as in 2019, our gross income and expenses both rise substantially. When we do not host this event, we are asked to support it, however as this event was not held in 2020 due to the Covid pandemic, we showed a net loss for this year as we have carryover expenses from 2019 paid for in 2020. In 2021 we were allowed to host this event in a modified manner with only California teams allowed to participate, and we will have expenses for this event carried into 2022. We indeed had expenses that carried over into 2022 for National Junior Olympics held in 2021. In 2023 we hosted Junior Olympics once again, however a large part of the income and expense shifted to USA Water Polo. We did have some carry over expenses from 2023 into 2024. Now in 2025, since USAWP changed their proforma regarding Junior Olympics, we are now including this section of program service within water polo tournament competitions.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending December 31, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Legitimacy checks
Is it registered with the IRS? Passed.
Listed in the IRS master file of tax-exempt organizations as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Has the IRS revoked its tax-exempt status? Passed.
Not on the IRS automatic revocation list.
Source: Automatic revocation of exemption list, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Are donations tax-deductible? Passed.
On the IRS list of organizations eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions.
Source: Publication 78 data: organizations eligible for tax-deductible contributions, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Is it keeping up with its IRS filings? Passed.
Most recent return on file covers the year ending December 2025.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
How long has it been tax-exempt? Passed.
Recognized by the IRS since September 2007.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Is it in good standing with state regulators? Passed.
Not on California's list of charities barred from soliciting. Other states are not yet checked.
Source: May Not Operate or Solicit for Charitable Purposes list, California Attorney General, Registry of Charities and Fundraisers, file dated October 21, 2026.
Ratings and checks are our reading of public records, using the published method. They are not a statement about anyone's honesty. If you work for this organization, you can send corrections or results, confirm you want gifts through Veridonate, or ask to be removed from giving.